At a time when Centre is moving to water down certain provisions of the Land Acquisition Act to make it investor-friendly and farmer-friendly, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee Tuesday reiterated that there would be no “forceful” acquisition of land for setting up industry in West Bengal. She said this while announcing an IT hub and industrial park at Haldia in East Midnapore district.

“We have decided to set up an IT hub in Haldia. But, yet again, I want to make our point clear. We will never acquire land forcibly. We are against forceful acquisition of land,” Mamata said.

However, she added, that “land would not be an issue for investors” as Bengal has “land banks”. “We have land in West and East Midnapore districts. We will allot land for projects from our bank,” she added.

Speaking at an administrative meeting in East Midnapore, Mamata patted her own back saying Bengal ranks at the top in terms of number of ongoing projects. “We have increased revenue of the state. Our GSDP, growth in industrial sector is more than national average,” she added.

Stating that Bengal now ranks No 1 in 100 days work scheme, up from the 17th rank when her party assumed power, Mamata warned against corruption in implementation of MGNREGA. She she would not tolerate anyone taking bribes and will even get them arrested.

The TMC chief also attacked the Centre for alloting only Rs 100 crore for ‘Beti Bachao, Beti Padhao Yojana’. “They have copied our scheme. But they have allocated only Rs 100 crore for 35 states and UTs. Each state would get only Rs 3 crore, but our population is 8 crore. What will we do with that? Buy lozenge or chewing gums?,” Mamata said, adding that under similar ‘Kanyashree’ project the state has allocated Rs 1000 crore.

She also criticised the previous UPA and the present NDA government saying they both have “deprived Bengal in their railway budgets”.